Why it's Important to Know The Main Purpose of Your Website

If you are working on your first website or redesigning a website that isn’t functioning as well as it should, there is one important decision you need to make:

What is the Main Purpose of the Website?

The question you need to ask yourself is what does the website need to accomplish for it to be successful? Is it to sell advertising? Provide information? Build up a brand? There are so many reasons a company needs a website. Make sure you understand exactly what the main purpose of your web site is.

Build a Brand

If the purpose is to build up your brand and provide basic information such as hours and location, then your website is going to be more of a brochure than anything else. There won’t be as much content, there’s no online-store, but making sure your company’s essence oozes off the screen will be your number one priority. When people leave your site they should know who you are, what you do, where you’re located, and how to contact you.

Sell Products via an Online Store

Online stores will be about the ease of the sale. With so many online stores to choose from, making the actual act of checking out as easy as possible is going to be the main priority. For an example of the easiest and fastest check out on the web, take a look at Amazon’s 1-click check out.

Another important feature will be the organization of the merchandise. Having the appropriate amount of categories and naming those categories correctly will mean the difference between visitors leaving empty-handed and taking the time to find exactly what it is they came for.

Provide Customer Service

Providing customers with an easy way to find information is a great goal for any service-based industry’s website. These types of sites do best with FAQ sections, content that explains exactly what you offer and why, and an abundance of contact information. Emails, phone numbers, Twitter, Facebook, etc. should all be prominently displayed on every page, not just the contact page.

Do you know the main goal of your website? Do you have another category to add?